The Story of This Book

My Dad’s been a professional photographer for 43 years, so I grew up in the business. Around the year 2000, he decided it was time to start switching from film to digital, and as the resident geek, it was my job to figure out how. We spent a mint on the latest gear, but the results were so bad, we nicknamed the first test shoot “Dave’s Digital Disaster”!

I was so frustrated. I knew how I wanted the pictures to look, but I had no idea how to achieve it. Have you ever felt that way?

I could look at a photo and tell you it wasn’t right, but I couldn’t identify what exactly was wrong.

I couldn’t figure out what I needed to change to turn a good photo into a great photo.

I spent hours – and I mean HOURS – every day working on photos, and I was never happy with the results.

Even when something turned out ok, I couldn’t reproduce it, so there was no consistency.

I tried to solve it in so many different ways, but nothing worked, because I was missing essential pieces of the puzzle.

I bought every book I could find, but they only explained what tools did, and not WHY you’d use them, or how to use them together.

I searched online, but it was early days for the internet, so there was little to find. These days, there’s so much information available, it’s equally hard to find reliable answers, especially since Adobe rebranded Lightroom.

I went on training courses and bought tutorial videos, but their examples were all shot in exotic places with perfect lighting, so it was difficult to relate them to our own photos.

I bought loads of presets, because they looked great in the samples. They never looked as good in our photos.

I kept buying different software, in the hope that I’d hit on the perfect solution, but the problem wasn’t the tools.

I needed a system. I needed a formula. I needed a series of questions I could ask myself on every photo to consistently and efficiently get a beautiful result. I needed to understand WHY things worked.

It’s taken years of work, editing millions of photos and teaching many photographers and professional editors. I’ve now distilled it down to a series of simple steps that anyone can use to improve their photos.

Now I want to help you transform your photos quickly and easily into results you can be proud to share with the world. Something made you capture that photo, and it’s so disappointing when it doesn’t look the way you remember. It’s missing that mood, that sparkle, that punch that captivated you at the time. You get the photos into Lightroom to start editing, but you’re faced with a mass of sliders, and you don’t know the best place to start.

It doesn’t have to be difficult. You don’t need to be an experienced artist. The photographs don’t even have to be that great! All you need is a series of questions to guide you through the same thought process that professionals use when editing their photos.

Too many photographers try to teach you THEIR style, but photo editing is subjective. Everyone has different preferences. This book is designed to help you figure out YOUR style.

In my new book, Adobe Lightroom CC – Edit Like a Pro, I’ll walk you through a full Lightroom CC workflow, including:

How to add your photos to Lightroom from your desktop, laptop, tablet or phone, so you don’t have to wait until you get home.

How to sync with the cloud, so your photos are available everywhere, but also how to safely back them up and how to minimize bandwidth.

How to quickly organize your photos so you can find them again later, without having to spend hours managing files.

How to pick your best photos without agonizing over your decisions.

How to search for specific photos, even if you haven’t spent time adding metadata.

How to analyze a photo from a technical and an artistic point of view, so you know exactly what you need to change to make your photos look stunning.

How each of Lightroom’s editing sliders and tools work behind the scenes, when you’d use each slider, and how they interact with each other, so you can pick the right tool for the job.

Step-by-step image transformations based on amateur photos captured in imperfect light, that we can all relate to.

How to share your finished photos with the world, whether by email, social media, shared web galleries and more.

The book’s designed to be approachable, even if you don’t have much photographic or computer experience, but I’ve included some advanced information for more experienced users too.

Want to get a feel for the style? My free Lightroom CC Quick Start eBook has been rewritten using extracts from Edit Like a Pro. You can download it free of charge right now.

Premium Membership Bonus!

With your book purchase, you also get a year’s access* to my Lightroom CC Members Area, which includes:

eBook Downloads

You’ll have access to all 3 eBook formats of your book – PDF, ePub and Kindle/Mobi – so you can read in the way that suits you best.

Constantly Updated

Adobe adds new features to Lightroom CC on a two-monthly basis, so most books are out of date before they’ve even they shipped, but with your Premium Membership, you’ll have access to free eBook updates in the Members Area.

Bonus Downloads

Image Analysis Worksheet to help you analyze your own photos.

Sample Images so you can follow along with key editing examples.

Keyboard Shortcuts to speed up your workflow.

Priority Email Support

If you can’t find the answer to your Lightroom CC ecosystem question in the book, you can use the Premium Email Support form in the Members Area to ask me personally. That’s a bonus money can’t buy!*

Discounts

You can purchase my other books at a discounted price. (Email for discount code.)

First and foremost, this book is based on the cloud-based Lightroom CC ecosystem for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Web and Apple TV, which looks like this:

If you’re using the Lightroom CC apps, whether on mobile or on the desktop, you’ll love the diagrams, showing exactly how to use each tool, hidden gestures, and how to optimize the space and bandwidth that the apps require.

If you only use the traditional folder-based Lightroom Classic or Lightroom 6 on your desktop, skip the CC information at the beginning and start on page 93 with the Introduction to Editing. Although it uses screenshots of the CC app, Lightroom Classic has exactly the same sliders, just arranged slightly differently. The same editing principles and thought processes explained in this book will still apply to Lightroom Classic, and there’s a bonus PDF in the Members Area showing where the various edit sliders are found in Lightroom Classic (and earlier). Note that there is overlap with The Missing FAQ, as we’re talking about the same editing sliders, albeit from a different point of view.

We don’t cover much file management in this book, because Lightroom CC looks after it all for you. Lightroom Classic, of course, also has a vast number of organization tools. For a full discussion of all of Lightroom Classic’s tools, including how to safely sync Lightroom Classic with the cloud apps and a technical perspective on the editing tools, see Adobe Lightroom Classic CC – The Missing FAQ.

The two books compliment each other, so you may want both!

The highlights

It’s written in conversational style that’s easy to read and understand, even if you’re new to photography.

You’ll learn to analyze a photo like a pro, saving you hours of frustration.

You’ll understand WHY to do things, instead of just following recipes.

You’ll figure out what the sliders are doing behind the scenes, so even more experienced photo editors can benefit.

You’ll learn how to use sliders together, instead of in isolation, so you can get the optimal result.

You’ll save time searching the web for information that turns out to be written for the “old” Lightroom CC instead of your version.

You’ll start to develop your own style of photo editing, rather than copying someone else’s.

You’ll save money buying presets that are never quite right.

You’ll develop the confidence to try new things.

Your photos will look so much better, you’ll be excited to share them with the world.

* Members Area access is valid for 365 days from date of book purchase. Email support is valid for 90 days from date of book purchase. When your Members Area access expires, you’re welcome to extend it at a low cost, so you always have the most up to date information about Lightroom CC.

Reviews

Interested in Lightroom?

Whether you’re just getting started with Lightroom, or you’ve been learning for a while, you’ll love these FREE Lightroom eBooks.

You’ll learn not only how to get started, but more importantly, how to avoid the most frequent problems. There are Quick Start eBooks for both the traditional desktop-based Lightroom Classic CC, and for the new Lightroom CC cloud ecosystem.

The eBooks are yours to download absolutely FREE when you sign up for my free monthly Lightroom newsletter using the form below. I won’t share your email address or send a load of spam.

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